wisdom for the ages

just celebrated 36 years on this planet. THIRTY. SIX. YEARS.

and what wisdom have i gained from this span of time? the following basically sums it up:

1) Everything is a sh**show. You just have to decide which sh**show you can put up with.
2) People are idiots. Myself included.
3) There's nothing more satisfying than a drawer full of clean underwear.

that's it. that's all i got.

here's to more wisdom to come. 



cups of coffee: 2

mood: goodness gracious

overflowing

i've been back in the states for about 3 months now and a student for almost 1 month. life is setting into a sense of normalcy, though adjusting to student mode has been more challenging than i'd expected.

the last time i was in school, people were still using desktop computers. we were just starting to really use mobile phones, but only for making phone calls and to send the occasional text. my course readings involved a mountain of textbooks. i had to call or email my professor's department office to arrange meetings during their office hours.

technology has changed everything in the past 10 (wow, 10! how old AM i.....) years. everyone has a laptop now and a good handful use tablets. my iphone is my crutch: i'm checking email, looking up restaurants, using the dictionary, constantly referring to google maps when i get lost. all my professors have their calendars online, and scheduling meetings now requires clicking on their calendar link, signing in, and scheduling the slot myself. my readings involve a small pile of books but tons of websites, blogs, and pdf documents (which led to the purchase of my first kindle so i could read while in transit. and i know i should have waited - purchased my kindle mere weeks before the new kindle fire was released!).

i went to the library for the first time last week and was absolutely overwhelmed. nyu's bobst library, besides being architecturally massive, overflows with resources both online and physically. i actually had to sign up for an orientation session next week, for fear of being completely lost and in a panic come final papers deadlines.

my life is overflowing in so many ways. when it comes to school, i feel as if my head were cracked open and all this information is just being poured into all the crevices. i'm living, reading, sleeping, breathing arts administration. with the copious amounts of reading assigned - particularly for my "environment of the visual arts" class, taught by our interim department director, a very thin richard gere with intense eyes and an airy voice - i am constantly reading and trying to stay afloat.

the readings are fascinating. i always realized the art world and arts organizations were complicated, but this past month of reading, discussing and learning is further opening my eyes to just how complex that world is. from the current reality of a ludicrous art market to questionable ethical practices in the non-profit and for-profit realms, it is an amazing array of greys.

when i'm not reading (which is pretty much all the time), i'm visiting exhibitions and taking notes. one of my classes is "intro to galleries and museums in new york" and we visit different galleries, museums and art districts every week, sometimes with guided tours by staff who are alumni from our program. needless to say, i LOVE this class. all my classes require visiting exhibitions on my own time as well, and most of our papers and projects revolve around our research and analysis of these institutions and the work they're doing. this weekend, i have back-to-back museum trips scheduled: first, it's off to brooklyn museum for their 'target first saturday' event, then it's sunday afternoon at the MoMA for the 'talk to me' exhibition. i'm hoping to catch the much-acclaimed de kooning exhibit at the MoMA as well on sunday - that is, if i'm not totally over-saturated by art yet.

i confess that i am a bit of a nerd, and my curiosity is being wonderfully sated by school. i love learning and asking questions, and i'm excited that two of my final projects involve putting together analysis and strategic suggestions for a museum and an arts center. so much of what we're learning is theoretical but there is a heavy emphasis on the practical. we are getting to apply what we are learning, and that is incredibly satisfying.

on top of school, life in nyc is bursting with a million and one things to do. last weekend, i celebrated my birthday on U.S. soil, the first in nearly a decade. dear friend hanneke came down from boston, and we trekked to flushing, queens with a few other friends for an afternoon of delightful noshing on cheap, good chinese food. the evening was spent celebrating with friends over drinks in the lower east side, followed by a couple hours of rousing karaoke. ironic that i would celebrate my first birthday back in america doing pretty much what i would have done in shanghai.

 my awesome roommates

 reunited with hanneke

in what has become an annual tradition, i "gave up" my birthday to raise money for charity:water. upping the stakes a bit each year, i raised my goal to $2,000 this year and was so excited to see that goal met! a big, warm "thank you!" to those of you who participated in the fundraiser this year! it was also a pleasant surprise to receive a personal thank-you video from founder scott harrison, as part of their fifth year anniversary celebration this september.

i continue to be deeply grateful to live life in this gracious overflow. i know what i've been entrusted with is a wonderful gift - not to be hoarded but to generously share. i am thankful for each and every provision here, and my daily prayer is that these gifts would pass through me - as fruit from one hand to another - to bless, nourish and encourage those around me.

cups of coffee:  1

mood:  deeply thankful

the things that still hold true

in turning 29 + 2 today, i realized that inside, i'm still just a big kid. and there are things that will always hold true for me, no matter how much experience, maturity or knowledge i gain through the years. par exemple:

- the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking will always be my favorite

- given the choice and the ability, if i could be anything in the world, i'd want to be a mermaid

- where there's music, there's gotta be dancing

- a grassy hill demands a nice roll or two down it

- running barefoot by the ocean will always make me happy

- there is always a story to be told and an adventure to be had

- i'm never too old to hug and kiss mom and dad, even in public

- there is always a happy ending, it's just a question of when it happens

on another note, following up on my previous movies post is this article in paste magazine about the enduring popularity of 'where the wild things are'. my favorite bit at the end of this well-written piece:

But Where the Wild Things Are has something these other books don’t have. A great secret. And here’s why it endures: Wild Things is not really a children’s book.

Oh, children unquestionably love Wild Things—what child wouldn’t gobble up a tale where the hero gets it all? Max chases the dog with a fork, threatens to eat his mom. When punished, he fantasizes an anger so profound, a vengeance so monumental, that it flattens all in its path. The most fearsome adversaries bow and scrape before his wrath. He inflicts an eyeball-to-eyeball humbling on the poor woolly behemoths … Hah! You’re not so big and bad after all, are you, my 
pussycats?

And then? Once Max’s anger is slaked, once love and loneliness begin to fill his heart again—why, he comes back home.

Don’t we all want that?

HE FOUND his supper waiting for him and it was still hot.

Well done, Max. You have your cake and rumpus, too. You got it all.

Where the Wild Things Are gives mom and dad a book that fully acknowledges the catharsis of anger and the wondrous healing power of imagination. It also shows that discipline is a requirement, even as it gives parents a way to show a child that discipline is love, too.

Even better, after misbehavior and punishment, when regret and loneliness are the last embers glowing in the black ashes of anger, when a child misses mom or dad and wants to come home, he always can.

Unconditional love reels Max back.

It’s better than any wild rumpus could ever be.

And it’s not just children who crave that promise. It’s their parents, and those hipsters, too—anyone who once was a child. It’s everyone, it’s all of us.

that's the story of the gospel itself, isn't it? we are creatures of rage and vengeance, blinded by our own desires and driven by our anger and selfishness, yet at the end of the day, we are all just scared, lonely children, desperate to be loved and longing so much to come home. and we are given the opportunity, welcomed by a heavenly Father who disciplines us but also loves us with a love that covers and heals. beautiful.


cups of coffee: 1, accompanying the nice breakfast my brother made for my birthday!

mood: ever grateful, ever joyful

charity

photo from mycharity:water

my birthday is coming up! i love good food and wine, so usually each year, i look forward to celebrating my birthday by feasting and toasting with beloved friends. but this year, i wanted to do something different. after the "shanghai glam" bash of last year, it was hard to think of how to top that.

and then i found out about charity:water's "born in september" campaign. founded by scott harrison, a former club and party promoter in nyc, charity:water is a non-profit based in nyc with one clear mission: to provide safe and clean drinking water for communities in developing countries who currently do not have access. harrison started by hosting a birthday party in september three years ago and instead of gifts, asked his guests to bring $20 as a donation. since then, charity:water has grown and raised over $7 million and funded 1,247 water projects. they track their projects meticulously, and you can even view the projects via google earth.

their "born in september" campaign asks september babies (such as yours truly) to "give up" their birthdays. instead of blowing their money, and their friends' money, on dinners and drinks out and nice gifts, they are being challenged to give that money to a water project fund instead. and that is exactly what i'm asking for my birthday this year.

i've set up my own page and am asking all my friends and family to donate $31 (because i'm turning 31 this year) to mycharity:water. here's the link.

i definitely don't need more stuff, and i can't think of a better way to celebrate the overflowing goodness in my life than to channel that overflow to touch the lives of those in need.

something harrison says in his personal story on the organization's website really struck a chord with me. i cannot retell it any better, so here it is in his own words:

"For me, charity is practical. It's sometimes easy, more often inconvenient, but always necessary. It's the ability to use one's position of influence, relative wealth and power to affect lives for the better. charity is singular and achievable.

There's a biblical parable about a man beaten near death by robbers. He's stripped naked and lying roadside. Most people pass him by, but one man stops. He picks him up and bandages his wounds. He puts him on his horse and walks alongside until they reach an inn. He checks him in and throws down his Amex. "Whatever he needs until he gets better."

All those passing by could have helped, but only one did. Only one had compassion.

The dictionary defines charity as simply the act of giving voluntarily to those in need. It's taken from the word "caritas," or simply, love. In Colossians 3, the Bible instructs readers to "put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."

Although I'm still not sure what that means, I love the idea. To wear charity."

- Scott Harrison

here's to another year of wearing charity.

cups of coffee: 1

mood: a bit under the weather

celebrate

it didn't hit me until a full two days after my birthday that this was a pretty big one. i will never be a twenty something year-old again. i may even have to check the next age bracket now when i'm filling out forms. i've been on this planet for almost THREE WHOLE decades. i suppose compared to a tortoise or a sequoia, thirty years isn't much to brag about, but it just seems so old when i still feel like an awkward, moody teenager on the inside most of the time. :)

getting old, though, is definitely more fun when you have good friends to celebrate with! and celebrate we did. viv, a september sister, and i decided to co-host a big birthday bash together with theme "shanghai glam." we held it at a fabulous wine bar (JWOW) and felt the love from about 70 of our friends.

the birthday girls

celebrations are always wonderful. but i suppose if i've learned anything from these three decades on earth, it is to be thankful in feast or famine. to fully savor and enjoy each day as it is given, to enter the disappointments as well as the joys with a constant heart. to remember past goodness and always hope in future grace. may it ever be so this year, let my heart be constant...

from one of my favorite hymns, the lyrics that best sum up my current state of heart and mind:

Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.
Heaven’s eternal days before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide us there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

thankful, ever thankful.


cups of coffee: 2 1/2

mood: blissful